I absolutely love traveling.
If you follow my blog at all, you would know I have a passion for travel and tend to do it a lot. Whether it’s weekend getaways, road trips, or longer international travel, I absolutely love exploring new places and see what else is out there. My passion for travel is what led me to move outside of Sydney, Australia after graduating from college in Cleveland, Ohio a few years ago. With all of our trips I’ve taken throughout the years, my before travel routine has been nailed to a science.
I’ve found that if I really want to relax while I’m away, there are 9 things that I make sure that I always do before traveling.
Incorporating this list into your travel routine and checking everything off before your next trip will allow you to ensure your trip goes smoothly and you can enjoy it worry-free.
This list includes things that can be done days prior to leaving and some of these things will need to be completed the day of. To make sure I remember everything, I write my Travel Checklist down so I can cross everything off the morning of our trip and ensure that I have everything completed on my list.
Take Out The Trash
No one wants to come back home to find bugs or a stinky house. I find that our house always smells a little stale after traveling for a bit. Taking out the trash is essential before leaving for a trip and helps to avoid any foul odors and bugs looming around your place while you’re gone. Taking out the trash is definitely something you should do the day of to ensure that you’re not leaving any trash behind. Make sure to get the trash from all parts of your space; your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, office etc.
Clean Out The Fridge
Along with the trash, you don’t want to find mouldy food when you return. Cleaning out your fridge before you leave will hopefully make sure you don’t find bugs, mouldy food, or a rotten smell you return. I like to start a few weeks before we have a trip and meal plan to eat and use up as much food in our fridge as possible.
I hate wasting food and throwing food away. Doing a meal plan so that you can avoid throwing away food or being more mindful about shopping the week prior to your trip and only buying what you need, will help you avoid waste when it comes time to throw out food.
Another great thing if you have perfectly good food that you know will go off while you’re away, you can give that to friends, family or a neighbor if they want it. This way you’re not wasting food and someone else can enjoy it.
Leave an Emergency Contact Info Sheet/ Travel Itinerary
An Emergency Contact Sheet is something that my Mom used to always request whenever I traveled and was something she would herself when she traveled alone or for family trips. I’ve attached a PDF to this post where you can download, fill it out, and leave it for any friends or family members. Having this sheet is really nice to have if anyone needs to get in touch with you due to an emergency or just knowing where you’ll be traveling or staying and when. It’s also a great idea whether you’re traveling with or without someone, for safety reasons, having someone know where you are at all times. That way if God-forbidden a natural disaster or something occurs and they can’t get ahold of you, your friends and family know where you are.
Download your Itinerary Sheet here: traveling itinerary
Unplug Everything
I’ve learned this the hard way. If there’s a lightning storm happens, it can ruin your electronics if they’re plugged in. Also since you’re away, there’s no need for you to be using electricity and spending unnecessary money. Unplugging everything just saves you money and can prevent anything electrically bad from happening while you’re away.
The only exception when it comes to electronics is automatic lamps. I like to have multiple automatic lamps throughout the house that are on a timer. This way there are lights that come on for a few hours a day while you’re away and makes it look like someone is home.
Laundry and Clean The House
Nothing is more satisfying than when coming home from a trip and having a clean house, a bed that’s made, and no additional laundry to do.
Chances are after traveling all day, whether that be flying or driving, the last thing you want to do is clean and with unpacking everything, you definitely don’t want any additional cleaning to do. Taking the time to clean everything before leaving is definitely worth it and it’s something that I always make sure to do before traveling anywhere!
Charge Electronics
This should be a no brainer. Before traveling it’s important to make sure your phone, laptop and any other electronics you bring are charged before traveling, especially if you’re flying. Although international flights tend to have outlets, you never know if the one by your seat will actually work or not (my last flight back from Australia, my outlet didn’t work, luckily I charge everything beforehand).
Water All Plants
If you have pets, I hope you have arranged for someone to take care of them while you’re away. With plants, although they’re living, they’re easy to forget about when it comes to planning a trip. You don’t want to come home to a bunch of dead plants. Making sure you have someone to take care of your inside plants by either delivering them to someone’s house to water them or have someone stop by your house when you’re gone is so important.
It’s also important not to overlook any outdoor landscaping and plants. If you live in a dry climate like we do in Sydney, we can go weeks and sometimes months without rain. This means ensuring that you have automatic sprinklers or someone to stop by and water your outside garden is just as important.
Notify Your Bank
I could not imagine going to the ATM and having my card declined and not being able to take out any money during my trip. I’ve heard horror stories about this happening to people. Especially if you’re traveling overseas and can’t call up your bank immediately, making sure to notify your bank of your final destination, any airports you have layovers at, and any other stops you might be for more than a couple of hours is a safe way to ensure that you’re card won’t get blocked and your bank can keep an eye out for any suspicious transactions.
Pay Credit Card and Bills
You should try to pay off your credit card every month. I always like to make sure that I’m either paying off my credit card completely prior to my trip or schedule all payments while I’m away. This is something that should be done for all your bills while you’re away so you don’t manually have to pay anything while you’re traveling and you can relax on your trip and not worrying about missing any bills.
Another great way to do this is to make sure all your bills are automatically direct debited from your account so you never have to worry about missing a bill.
I hope you found this list of 9 things you should always do before traveling helpful. I know that doing this list really make my trip a lot more relaxing and enjoyable!
What do you always have to do before traveling? Let me know in the comments down below!
